Ontario: Escrimer

Eddie's phone rang and he was rather alarmed by who's voice was on the other line. He rushed back to the old man's room and found some hospital staff with puzzled looks on their faces, trying to fathom how he could've left, why he left, and who they'd need to bill for his stay.

He returned to his call in the hallway and whispered:

"How'd you get all the way over there so fast? And why? If you need some threads, like I said I know a guy, but for ya's own good you should get back here, and hustle. Ya haven't even met Charlie; I'm sure he wants to thank ya for savin our skins and all. But if ya's insist..."

He rattles off an address of a nearby Apple Store on Z Plaza and instructs the man to say he knows Charlie and Eddie once he gets there. It might help to flash the card he was given.

"Imma go check up on my friend, call if anything comes up." He hangs up and tends to his friend in a medically induced coma.

This was all very interesting, Baxter thought while watching the group from the ethereal plane. He focused on them as much as he could before he found himself being bothered by other wandering souls. This was a hospital after all. There were about 3 old men talking about their distant youths and an old lady trying to show him pictures of her grandchildren. If he had been in his body right now…well he wouldn’t be in his body right now. His eyes nearly rolled all the way back in his head before he was driven back to his body to escape the gathering of ghouls and to make sure he didn’t wear himself out.

He shook his head, back in his body now before looking down to his hands where he had a pamphlet from the clinic about “staying clean.” Looks like one of those finally came in handy. He relocated himself to an area outside the hospital, opening up a different section of the pamphlet every now and then to keep watch on them. He was half asleep on a neighboring roof, half eaten, day old donut hanging from his mouth. Oh right. He was a hobo too. He might have been too tired to notice the man leaving, but his drifting in and out of sleep sent him flashing into the spirit plane a few times, making the man’s dark, moving form light up a few times.

Baxter sat up quickly, shaking his head about and dropping the donut from his mouth before scaling down the roof to trail him.

58664 was restless and had no intentions of returning to the hospital, something about being confined in such places drove him mad. Night provided some amount of solitude, but an errant phone-call could still place him in a precarious position with local law enforcement. He hobbled from alley way to alley way, until he was close to Z plaza.
Agent disappeared into an alleyway and leaned against the wall, waiting for the set of foot-steps that had been a lasting companion on his slow progress towards Z plaza.

His target seemed to have disappeared. Odd. He stopped to wait for him for a moment, trying to see if he would show up once again, but no such luck. With a blink Baxter simply continued forward to see if he could catch up to the one he was following. If he hadn't been completely hidden within the darkness, Baxter probably would have seen him, even if just out of the side of his vision.

Seeing nothing, he simply walked by.

The Apple Store was strangely illuminated, making it rather conspicuous in the dead of the night. Sounds of laughter could be heard echoing outside the building as various bearded men in plaid shirts cavorted about. This being Canada, it was pretty impossible to tell whether they were hipsters or lumberjacks.

Spoiler:

"Where's Eddie's new friend, eh Thomas?"
"I don't know, when'd he say he'd show up, eh Jill?"
"Shouldn't be much longer, nope nope nope. Let's finish this game before we worry ourselves worrying, alright right right?"

Since Macs can't play games, they returned their attention to their intense game of Go Fish.

58664 saw a flamboyantly dressed boy pass the alley. 'Must be a male prostitute looking for a John' he decided and gave the boy not another thought; he'd seen his share of gay-for-pay twinks on the streets, and he usually felt bad for them, but soon forgot them. He waited a few minutes, letting his bad leg rest, before making his way to Z-Plaza and knocking on the door, card in hand.

Thomas arose to answer the knock at the door, though the stopped abruptly just as he got out of his seat. The three turned their heads to the glass door and saw a very naked, hobbling old man. Realizing exactly what he was looking at, he ran to escort the man inside, especially now that he could see he was visibly hurt. He offered him a seat and tried to say something, but was rendered speechless by the old man dong waving shamelessly about.

Jacques managed to form a coherent sentence. That sentence was of course: "I...uh...eh...can we help you, sir?" Aboot time someone said something.

58664 sat with his legs spread. DarkForce apparently had eaten away at whatever modesty he might have once had.
"I need clothes, unless you're really enjoying the view in which case I'll have to charge you for the peep-show. If your boss is around, might be a good time for a meeting, either like this or after you get my clothes, your call. If none of that can be done, just point me to a corner where I can catch a few Z's before your boss is ready."

There was a slight breeze from the air-conditioning. It felt nice.

"Oh jeez. Jacques, get this guy some pants, for all our sakes."

Thomas keeps his gaze averted from the man's dangling and wrinkled member and eked out the question: "You can't be Eddie's friend, can you? I think he would've mentioned your...liberal lifestyle." By then, Jacques had tossed a pair of slacks and a polo shirt (both with a faint, though peculiar smell) out to Jill, who took the clothing over to the man and handed them to him, maintaining two awkwardly sealed lips and an awkwardly not-vomiting esophagus all the while.

58664 put on the clothes, it wouldn't be the first time he'd had to put up with peculiar clothes.

"Hard to be conservative when you've nothing but a hospital-gown, sonny. I've been in here all of one day, I'm no one's friend. But your enemies did shoot at me, ergo they are my enemies. Now this Pomme or Fenetre or Linux or FeuRenard will have to answer for his boy's... incivility."

After putting on his slacks, for the benefit of everyone in the room, 58664 took off his hospital gown, revealing a heavily scarred body with more than a few healed bullet wounds. He then quickly put on the polo shirt and immediately felt ridiculous. As he stared down at his outfit, Agent asked, "this boss of yours won't mine throwing a few dollars my way after all this is done, right? This... er 'outfit' looks childish."

It had been a long day and he had used his power a lot, including a new experience of letting a stray spirit possess him. He could use some rest, though that usually led to him using his power more. He was surprised he even managed to use it so much while awake after doing so much spirit wandering the night before. Perhaps it wasn’t so draining when he was actually asleep…

After finding some box to curl up in, Baxter found himself sitting in the same alley where his body was resting. The night sky was black, but everything else was hazed in blue. Maybe his vision as getting better? Slowly he stood up and stepped out of the alley. There was that dark figure again, easy to spot among everyone else. He was at…the Apple Store? Ugh, no way was he going there. He looked about the city some more before seeing that long coat dragging down the sidewalk as that tall figure walked down along it. Baxter started to step towards him before his eye caught some glowing figure up on a rooftop. He started to look up towards it but it suddenly darted off. Was…was someone watching him?

Eerie, but he had other things to focus on at the moment. He rushed after the figure in the trench coat before it turned a corner, disappearing behind a building. That was odd considering he could usually see them through buildings… He turned the corner to look for him but found something else instead. There seemed to be a lot for him to keep track of and follow in the spirit realm.

It seems that the detective had found a lead. And Baxter was the only one he could lead to it.

"Linus? No, he was killed years ago. It's just as well. We answer to Pomme. Did those X guys give you those scars? Ouch. I can see why you'd want to call them your enemies."

Jill continues to keep here eyes away from the stranger's scars. Still she commented "I don't think our boss would really care to humor someone with your...injuries, so so so I don't think that'll be an option."

Jacques, coming out from the back, tossed in his two cents. "Oh come on. We're out gunned as of late and with this guy's scars he might've seen war or something. Am I right, old man?"

"Damned if I know. But who keeps track, really? I've been near enough battles, but can't be damned to figure out if any of them were declared wars. Still, if it's killing that needs to be done..."

58664 then drew one of his guns and shot a random, inexpensive trinket on a table 3 times(let's say a water-bottle). There was no bang, the bottle didn't even seem to wobble from the impact, but it did turn into so much dust on the table.

He holstered his weapon and said, "Even on an off day, I'm not helpless."

If anyone took a close look, they might see that 58664's veins (those which are normally fairly visible) glowed an angry purple.

Awestruck by the disintegration of the water bottle, an air of silence filled the air. After several minutes, Jill commented.
"It's hard to believe we didn't notice the gun, right right right?" Her two compatriots nodded in agreement before Jacques responded with a "I'm 85% sure that shouldn't be possible. What's this guy packing?"

"Not sure, but he's a pretty decent shot. He could be useful, but not with that limp. Check out his leg."

And they did check out his leg. It was recently treated for bullet injury, but obviously it wasn't fully healed. Hmm.

"Maybe the boss could fix him up. She's got those crazy talents, right?"

58664 felt malicious thoughts surfacing in his mind.
'O-ho, no need to walk when you can fly. No need to dodge when you're a walking fortress. No need to care when the world can no longer touch you. No need to fear when an army awaits just a little deeper inside.'
Agent closed his eyes and willed the thoughts away, the purple glow of his veins subsiding.

Visibly unsettled, Agent responded with an weak, "Um... yea, sure, if your boss can fix my leg, that'd be... good, yea."

"Hey, buddy, you okay?" Noting the man's strange change in condition, Thomas placed a friendly but concerned hand on the stranger's shoulder.

"Oh god, what if he's having a heart attack ack ack ack?"

"Jill, shut up. He's not having a heart attack."

"Tom, what if he's having a stroke?"

"Well, that would also be bad, but it's not that. You can tell because his face is flushed. It's almost purple. Look it up on Web MD or something; my interest is piqued." By now, Thomas' thoughts of concern had shifted into curiosity. He almost seemed to be glowing with health...what is that?

Feeling a familiar queasiness, 58664 simply asked for a bathroom.
Once inside, he prepared himself for the worst of it, but it never came.
He washed his face and, noting the haunted look he had been sporting, slapped his palms on his cheeks a few times to knock himself back down to earth. He exited the bathroom looking as professional as he could while hobbling.

"Right, well, let's get this party moving... or whatever. Are we going to meet your boss soon, or should that be done in the morning?"

"Well, yeah, she's sleeping now; and you don't want to disturb her. That'd be the last thing you'd do."

"So where are we gonna put this guy?"

Then, GROUP HUDDLE! The three Eyes gathered in a corner of a room to discuss their next move.

Spoiler:

The discussion continued in this manner until they decided that none of them wanted to stay with the old creepy guy and he was probably old enough to find his own lodging until noon. Probably. Jacques is never 100% about those things.

Agent, having been called worse things than a rapist during his hobo-travels, told the youngun's to just give him access to the roof. He'd slept on worse than a store-roof in the past.

"Yeah, but are you..."

"Man, I do not even begin to care care care. Let's deal with it in the morning."

And so they did deal with it in the morning, with Jacques and Tom's protest being quelled by Jill's insistence that she not get raped, leaving him alone in the store. What was the worst that could happen?

58664 found a nice-secluded spot on the roof and went to bed.

He slept fitfully and awoke shivering; not due to the cold, but from frightful visions of an alien world.

He used to bathroom to freshen up once more and waiting for the guys and their boss.

The time was about 5:13 when a roving gang on miscreants forced their way through the locked doors of the store and began smashing up the joint. After they were sure they did a thorough job, they left, but not before starting a fire in the front room. They had received a tip that those guys hung out here. "Fuck those guys and fuck their gay Apple store." was the thought running through their minds as they torched the joint.

The time was 7:31 when they made their getaway.

The sound of exploding batteries woke Agent.
The unmistakable smell of burnt electronics was rising from the store below him.
As he hobbled to the side of the building, 58664 saw some hoodlums entering a car to escape. He could only thing 'that's twice'.

He wanted them dead. Deader than dead. He wanted them to pay.
He did not feel the appropriate rage given the situation, but a calm, cold, murderous drive.

His eyes glowed a dark, angry purple and DarkForce energy erupted from his body, coalescing into a beast formed of vapoury DarkForce. This form was reminiscent of one he'd seen in Sustan, all tooth and nail and fang. The vapoury construct was translucent enough that one could see the form of a man suspended in the fetal position. at its centre.

The beast leaped from the top of the building with incredible speed and landed on the car roof with crushing weight. A clawed appendage ripped through the car's engine like so much tissue. As the gang members shot through the roof of the car, the beast avoided each blow with unnatural agility and ripped the car's roof, crushing a man's head like a grape.
The onslaught was short and brutal.
Everyone was dead but 58664 wanted more destruction. The beast looked towards the other buildings and prepared to assault them when the suns rays peeked over the buildings and hit it. The vaporous DarkForce form vanished like a shadow and 58664 fell unceremoniously to the ground. He groaned in pain as he got up and made to leave the scene. He'd have to call Pomme's boys again


Darkforce Adaptations – 15 points
Action 3 (Full), Positive Energy Negates (ex: Strong sunlight), Duration Sustained

From 1 - DarkForce Berserker
Wisdom -6 , Charisma -6, Intelligence -6; Dodge Focus +10 (+20 total); Intimidate +15
Diehard; Evasion 2; Fearsome Presence 9
Strike 10; Extended Reach (10ft); DC 25; Penetrating; Affects Insubstantial 2
Immunity 19 (Mental Effects; Life Support)
Leaping 5 (Jumping Distance x50)
Speed 4 (100mph, 880ft/rnd, Permanent)

[spoiler]They were supposed to leave at 5:31, didn't notice the typo until now. Doesn't matter though.{/spoiler]

Some people peered at the scene on the streets from the safety of their windows, with a few calling the police, who were, of course, smart enough not to set foot in that set of town. One brazen individual was watching from an alley, strangely invisible, transparent even, even in the brightness of day.

As stealthily as he could, he slipped into the charred building he saw the ethereal beast manifest from.

As the car lay dead and destroyed in the streets, many people decided they'd just call in sick for work and school.

Neaera feels a little better after being patched up, shaman or not.

She shuts her eyes and tries to feel the life and power around her, relieved that this place isn't quite as dead and cold as it looks.

Sensing a familiar feeling of power...could it be...worshipers? She heads in the direction she senses, feeling slightly stronger as she does so.

"Veg Head Vegan Restaurant" reads the sign on the building that seems to be the source of the worship. She tries to enter and hurts her nose on some sort of unheard of force. Windows are not a thing where she's from.